Holder



S. PILATC March 27, 1.934.

HOLDER Original Filed April 1 1 INVENTOR .SALl/ATLI BY.

Patented Mar. 27, 1934 HOLDER Salvatore Pilate, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application April 11, 1930, Serial No. 443,273 Renewed April 24, 1933Claims. (Cl. 206-151) This invention relates-to a holder andparticularly to av holder designed to care for brushes such astoothbrushes and the like.

It is an object of the invention to provide a 5 brush holder in whichthe bristles are kept in a substantially closed container and protectedfrom dust, etc. It is also an object of the invention to provide, ifdesired, means for maintainingantiseptic or bactericidal conditionsabout the bristies of a brush held in the holder.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated Figure 1 an elevation ofa preferred embodiment of my invention having a number of brushes inplace; I

Figure 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1, showing indotted lines the manner of inserting a brush and in full lines a brushin its supported position; and

Figure 3 shows the holder partly separated. Referring to the drawing,the embodiment of my invention there illustrated comprises broadly aback 5 having at its bottom a trough 6. The ends of the back 5 areformed into a tongue or extension '7 which may be either an integralpart of the back cut away or bent slightly forward to permit itsentrance into the groove 8 of the front portion 10, or it may be aseparate piece secured to the back 5 and extending beyond its edge.

The front 10 in the present embodiment includes a shield ll, a shelf 12,fingers 13 depending from the shield to and over the trough 6, a rack 14for holding cards or other indicia 15.

The shield 11 is, in the present instance, made to surround a spaceslightly larger in cross sectional dimensions than that of the trough 6.The ends of the shield are formed with grooves 16 which receive thetongue '7 on the ends of the back 5 and thereby hold the shield to theback.

The shelf 12 is mounted within the space defined by the shield 11 so asto leave a substantial distance between the bottom edge of the shieldand the bottom edge of the shelf. There is also advantageously left asubstantial distance above the shelf and below the upper edge of theshield. In the present instance the shelf 12 serves also as a stop tolimit the movement of the tongue 7 in the groove 8.

In the front of the shield a rack 14 is mounted which may be of any formadapted to hold cards or other suitable interchangeable indicia and inthe present instance is made with undercut openings 17, one above eachspace between the fingers 13. In each of the openings 17 a card ismounted which is advantageously made of celluloid or other washablematerial, and has a character'such as a letter of the alphabet or a nameprinted thereon. f I

Fingers .13 are secured to the inside of the shield 12 and dependtherefrom so as to extend over and close to the trough 6.

The use of my invention is as follows: The brush is inserted with itsbristles towards the inside of the container defined by the back, the 85trough, the fingers and the shield; and is tilted as illustrated in thedotted lines of Figure 2, so as to permit the bristles to pass over thetop edge of the trough 6. The brush is then returned to a verticalposition and in that position is supported by the holder, as illustratedin the full lines of Figure 2 and in Figure 1. It will be seen that thebrush, except for the handle and for a part of its back, is completelyenclosed and is therefore kept under sanitary conditions. In order thatthe holder may at all times be kept clean it is made separable, as shownin Figure 3, and as described above, so that it may be'taken apart andreadily washed or sterilized.

The trough 6 serves to catch any drip from the brushes if they are suchas are used wet, as for example in the case of toothbrushes, and thistrough may also advantageously contain some antiseptic means forpreserving sanitary conditions within the container, which may forexample be a layer of germicidal substance or an absorbent padimpregnated with a germicidal substance.

The shelf 12 within the shield 11 affords a place to keep tooth paste orother small articles.

Instead of being separable it is obvious that the container may be madeof a single piece with openings cut for the brushes instead of havingopenings defined by the depending fingers and the outer edge of thetrough 6. Also, the device 1 may be made without top or bottom, that isthe shelf 12 and the bottom of the trough 6 could be omitted, and withthis form of the invention the front portion would advantageously bemade with openings cut into a depending apron instead of merelydepending fingers and the back could then be a single piece or merelybrackets adapted to be secured to the wall which would form tongues forengagement with the grooves 16. Similarly, in the case where a troughand/or shelf is used, the trough 6 and the fingers 13 may be madeintegral with the shield 11. This form of the invention has theadvantage that the trough would be removed with the shield for thepurpose of cleaning. In this case also the back may be dispensed withand brackets, as suggested above, to engage the grooves 16 may be usedinstead, in which case the wall itself will form the back of thecontainer.

I do not wish to be limited to any particular material since it is clearthat the device of my invention might be made from any of a large numberof materials. However, I prefer to make the device of celluloid,vulcanite, ceramic material or'a suitable metal, preferably a corrosion-.resisting metal, or enameled iron or some similar material.

I have shown by way of example four openings.

in the front and one on each end; obviously my invention embracesholders having any desired number of openings whether one, two, four,six, eight or any other number.

These, and many other changes or modifications may be made within thescope of my invention.

what is claimed as new is: l. A holder for a brush of the typedescribed, comprising a container having one or more substantiallyvertical openings in its sides, said openings being of substantially thesame width as a brush but shorter than the bristle portion thereof andpositioned so that the bottom edges thereof are spaced from the top ofthe container at least the length of the bristle portion of the brush,and the dimensions of the container being such as to permit insertion ofthe bristle portion of the brush into said container through one of saidopenings.

2. A brush holder as defined in claim 1 in which the bottom of saidcontainer below the bottom edges of said openings comprises a troughadapted to catch any drip from said brushes.

3. A brush holder as defined in claim 1 in which the container comprisesa back having a bottom trough secured thereto and a front removablysecured to the back and having fingers depending therefrom spacedapproximately the width of the bristle portion of a brush and extendingover the bottom trough.

4. A holder as defined in claim 1 in which the front and back portionsare detachable.

5. A toothbrush holder comprising a back adapted to be attached to awall or other support, a trough secured to the bottom thereof, a guardadapted to be detachably secured to the back comprising a shelf, ashield surrounding said shelf on three sides and extending a substantialdistance above and below-the shelf, spaced fingers depending from saidshield below said shelf and inwardly from said shield, and grooves nearthe ends of the shield adapted to engage members secured to the back andserving thereby to secure the guard detachably to the back.

SALVATORE PILATO.

